Braving all odds and challenges like ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the journey of the new financial year began on Wednesday.
Economists said other fiscal years in the past started normally, but this time it is going to be different.
During the Corona period, public health is at a grave risk on the one hand, but economy is facing a great uncertainty on the other.
Despite vigorous efforts by the government to curb the spread of corona infection, it is yet to come under control.
None can guarantee that the infection will decline suddenly, or in a short time.
Consequently, the government will have to plod its weary way in a hostile environment in the future.
With the corona pandemic starting at the beginning of the year, they said adding that there was a crisis in the health sector.
Apart from this, the wheels of the economy of almost all the countries across the world including Bangladesh have come to a standstill while dealing with the pandemic, they mentioned.
A large number of people in the country have become unemployed since long due to the impact of lockdown, they said.
On the other hand, exports, remittance, investment and revenue have declined in the last fiscal year, they said.
Despite the awful situation, the Jatiya Sangsad (JS) on Tuesday passed a Tk 568,000 crore budget for 2020-21 fiscal, targeting 8.2 percent GDP growth.
During delivering his concluding remarks on the proposed budget for the year 2020-2021, the Finance Minister said people of different sectors are now passing a critical time thanks to economic stagnation created by coronavirus, and so, this budget is for all.
“We have to go a long way, we have to walk far, but this path is not smooth, we can do that if we get help from all,” he added.
Experts said about various roadblocks in the implementation of this year's budget and the government has to face three main challenges.
First, the revenue collection situation is not that happy, they said adding the government should pay attention to this.
Second, many have become jobless due to corona pandemics - helping them and recovering the economy are great challenges, they said.
Third, it is a big challenge to prevent the spread of coronary infection, they mentioned.
Executive director of Policy Research Institute (PRI) Dr Ahsan H Mansur said people who have become unemployed during the Corona period should be helped.
He said the stimulus package announced by the government to revive the economy needs to be implemented expeditiously and the government needs to ensure that the beneficiaries get loan assistance.
If the incentive package is implemented effectively, the economy will turn around, he said adding, as a result, unemployed people will come out of poverty.
SANEM executive director and professor of Dhaka University SelimRaihan said the government's expenditure in various sectors will increase during the Corona period.
In addition, if the aggression of corona does not decline, the revenue earning will not increase, he said.
As a result, the government will be under pressure to implement the budget, he mentioned.
For this, we have to pay more attention to revenue collection, Selim said. Implementation of incentive package should be given the utmost importance in reviving the economy, he added.
“In particular, the SME sector should be given priority,” he said.
